1Q: Local TV Revs Down, But Syndie Sparkles

The first quarter of the year wasn't a winner for big market TV stations.

Local broadcast television's revenues were down 1.6% to $3.97 billion during the first quarter of 2008 compared to the same period a year before, according to the Television Bureau of Advertising analysis of TNS Media Intelligence data.

The main culprit was TV's biggest advertising category, automotive advertising--which had a steep decline, off 13% from the year before.

Better news came from syndicated television, which went in the other direction--up double-digit levels, an 11.2% gain in revenues to $1.1 billion during the period. Network television was virtually flat versus the year before, up a scant 1.7% to $6.8 billion.

Pooling all broadcast TV categories together, advertising revenues inched up 1.4% to $11.9 billion.

For the biggest individual automotive marketers--local TV largest advertisers--it was a mixed picture. The Ford Motor Company Dealer Association was up 28% during the period to $87.0 million, the top-spending marketer for the period. But the General Motors Dealer Association was down 23.6% to $73.4 million.

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Entertainment/cable companies were on the uptick: Comcast Corp. was 45.5% higher to $50.0 million; and Time Warner was 13.1% improved to $49.0 million.

The telecommunications category was up slightly by 2%--but individual major companies took a hit. AT&T was down 28.8% to $60.1 million, and Verizon Communications was 23.3% lower to $48.9 million.

Quick service restaurants were down 3.8%. McDonald's was up 9.4% to $49.9 million; Doctors Associates (Subway) was down 7.3% to $24.6 million.

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